Prithipal Singh was born on 28 January 1932 in Nankana Sahib in Punjab. He graduated from Government Agricultural College, Ludhiana, in 1956. He joined Punjab Police in June 1956 and played hockey for the Police team and Punjab.
He had a quick rise to fame. He first came into limelight in 1957 when he was selected to represent Punjab in the National Hockey Championship in Bombay as a full back.
He was a member of the Gold Medal winning Punjab Police Hockey team in Calcutta 1959; Hydrabad 1961 and Trivandrum 1962. The team won Bronze in Delhi 1960.
He was a member of the Gold Medal winning Punjab Team in the National Hockey Championship in Bhopal in 1962.
In 1958 he was included in the Indian Hockey Federation team which toured the country.
He was a penalty corner specialist, a player with powerful wrists and sharp reflexes.
He was selected for the Indian team that toured East Africa in 1959. He earned his first international cap when he was selected to play against Kenya on 28 June 1959 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Later in the year he was selected for the Indian team that toured Europe. His performance earned him a place in India's team at Rome 1960 Olympic Games where India won the Silver medal. He scored five goals at Rome Olympics.
He represented India at the Jakarta Asian Games in 1962 where India won the Silver medal.
He left Punjab Police in 1963 to join the Railways and within two years was awarded the Railway Minister's Medal for being the Best Railway Sportsman.
He was selected for the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games where India won the Gold medal. He scored ten goals at Tokyo Olympics.
He was a member of the Indian team which won the Asian title at the Bangkok Games in 1966 for the first time.
He captained India in the Madrid Hockey Festival in 1967 and also against the visiting East German team the same year.
He later became the Deputy Director of Youth Welfare in the Agricultural University at Ludhiana.
He was India's joint captain, alongside Gurbux Singh, for the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games where India won the Bronze medal.
He thus became one of only two players in hockey at Olympic Games to have won Gold, Silver and Bronze medal.
He was awarded the Indian National Award ‘Arjuna Puraskar' in 1961 and ‘Padma Shri' in 1967.
He went on to teach at the Punjab Agriculture University. He later became the Deputy Director of Youth Welfare at the University.
Prithipal Singh was assassinated by his own student in the campus of the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, on 20 May 1982.